SOFI
The sun was just beginning to set as I made my way through the atrium of the municipal building and into the police station.
It had been nearly a week since Darja and I had left Stephen’s apartment, sneaking the book past the lookout in a borrowed backpack and hoping I looked more casual than I felt.
We’d gotten the book back to Mirtel’s and filled her and Aggie in on everything that had happened. Stephen had showed up the next day, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses that I’d pointed out made him even more visible to anyone watching, but he’d informed me proudly that while the beige car had followed him when he’d left his apartment, he’d “lost the guy” on the way. I’d wondered if Stephen even realized that this wasn’t some thriller action movie, and how much was really at stake here, for all of us.
He and Mirtel had quickly gotten down to business, and with help from Aggie and Darja, slowly but surely, the translation progressed.
In the meantime, my mother had mentioned in passing that she hadn’t seen me much lately, and asked what I’d been up to this summer, and I found myself spending more time hanging around the house so my parents wouldn’t get suspicious. Darja split her time between me and the others, and the discomfort I felt while seated at the dining room table, trying to make conversation over dinner with Darja’s still form hovering in the corner or pacing behind my chair, was almost more than I could handle. And it wasn’t just her; I barely knew how to be in the same room as my father anymore. Every time I saw his face, all I could think of was Darja’s mother. Had she looked like Darja? Did my mother know? What on earth would my father think if he knew what was really going on? What kind of a person was he really? Did I even know him at all?
It was enough to tie my stomach in knots.
After nearly a week of this, I figured I had played the role of dutiful daughter enough, and fled the house. Jared had sent me a text earlier that day asking me to drop by the station, and it’d seemed like the perfect opportunity to get away, both from my parents and from the mass of bodies packed into Mirtel’s tiny wagon. Plus I needed to speak to him anyway, to figure out a way to draw attention away from Stephen. The translation was too important to risk falling into the wrong hands.
Jared was waiting for me in his dad’s office, files stacked on the desk and the computer open in front of him.
“Sofi, hey,” he greeted me, gesturing to the open chair. His smile was genuine, and it put me at ease. I knew we had to be careful around Jared, especially with the ongoing investigation, but I genuinely liked the guy, and it was nice to spend a few minutes with someone who wasn’t really part of this whole mess my life had become. Being with Jared was easy, and he seemed to be one of the only people I knew who wasn’t harboring any deep, life-changing secrets.
I smiled wryly to myself as I took a seat across the desk. Ah, how I missed that life.
“What’s got you smiling today?” he asked, his eyes warm.
“Oh, nothing, things are just a bit crazy at home and it’s nice to get out of the house for a bit. It’s really good to see you.”
He nodded. “It’s been a few days. Look, Sofi, I asked you to come because I wanted to talk to you about something.”
I knew what was coming, but I let him ask anyway.
“We’re still following all the leads we can on this case, you know, the missing girl?”
I nodded. “Darja, right? Do you have any suspects yet?”
He looked down at the desk. “No real suspects, but some leads. I’m still looking into them. Anyway, I wanted to ask you about Stephen.”
There it was. I kept waiting.
He paused, then finally met my eyes. “I know you went to see him. You’ve been at Mirtel’s, and now at Stephen’s too. I’m worried about you.”
I wondered if he really was simply worried about me, or if he suspected something. But judging by his open, earnest face, I was pretty sure it was the former. I found the thought strangely flattering.
I felt the faint beginnings of a blush, but I forced myself back on task.
I nodded. “Yes, I went there. I’m sorry. I know I should stay out of it, but I was worried. And I thought maybe…maybe I could help you.”
His brows shot up.
“I thought maybe he would tell me something,” I went on. “Something he might not be willing to tell you.”
“And?” Jared leaned in.
I shook my head. “He says he’s studying the Vaikesti for a school project.” Well, at least that much was true. “He’d never even heard of the missing girl, and despite the pictures, he really doesn’t seem to know very much about us.”
Jared’s expression was concerned. “Sofi, you really shouldn’t have gone out there. What if he really had been part of it? He could have hurt you.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” I said in a quiet voice. “I just hate all this…mystery and secrecy. And I’m worried about that girl. If she’s hurt, and I could have helped…”
I hated lying to him, but it seemed a necessary evil these days.
Jared’s face softened. “Sofi, that’s what the police are here for. You can’t take it on yourself. Leave it to me, and I promise, we’ll find out what happened to her.”
I wondered what he would say if I told him the missing girl in question was in fact dead, but was also hanging out back at Mirtel’s house with his two main suspects and another dead girl. I couldn’t imagine it would go over well.
I sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll stay out of it.”
He reached across the desk and took my hand, and my pulse leaped at the contact. “Trust me. We’ll figure it all out. Just keep yourself safe, okay?”
I nodded, and he released my hand. I felt a little rush of disappointment.
“Sofi,” Jared said, and I glanced up, catching a different note in his voice.
“When all this is over, would you…maybe want to go out sometime?”
The disappointment vanished as my heartbeat sped up, a warm flush spreading across my face. “Out?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I like you, Sofi. I’d like to spend some more time with you.”
I hesitated. We had grown up together, and I knew his parents as he knew mine, but he wasn’t actually part of Vaikesti. My parents would flip at that, and though their opinions were growing less and less important to me day by day, I didn’t know if I was ready for yet another break in tradition. And tradition aside, when this was all over, whatever this even was, I would still be bonded to an invisible dead girl, and know more about life and death and murder and betrayal than any girl my age should ever have to deal with.
But Jared looked at me with clear eyes and a hopeful expression, and I forced myself to forget about everything that had happened since the first of May, pretend that I was still that naive girl I’d been. And damn it, didn’t I still deserve a little happiness? A bit of normalcy? A date with a cute guy, was that so freaking much to ask for?
So I smiled back at him, and said, “Yes, I’d really like that.” And when he reached across the desk and took my hand again, I squeezed his and smiled like a lunatic and felt normal for the first time in what seemed like forever.
Until with the barest change in air pressure that only I noticed, Darja flickered into existence at my side and said, “Sofi, we need you. The translation is finished.”